Flora of Pingelap—S t. John 
105 
COMPARISON OF VERNACULAR PLANT NAMES 
Analysis of these tabulations seems to reveal 
the linguistic affinities of Pingelap. 
Kusaie is the closest high island, being only 
166 nautical miles to the southeast by east. 
Actually, there is one other small island, Mokil, 
situated 60 miles northwest by west, but nothing 
is known of its flora, the people, or their lan¬ 
guage. Also, Ponape is situated 168 miles north¬ 
west by west from Pingelap, so it is not much 
farther away than Kusaie. 
Plants with Similar Names on Kusaie and 
Pingelap 
8 cultivated food crops 
1 timber tree, probably cultivated 
1 indigenous tree 
1 cultivated ornamental shrub 
1 indigenous 
12 total (out of the 42 species in common) 
Degree of Similarity: Four, or 33.3 per cent, 
with identical names. These are all cultivated 
food plants. Eight, or 66.6 per cent, with 
altered names. All, or 100 per cent, are much 
modified. 
The Marshall Islands are remote, at least 243 
nautical miles away, but are similar coral islands. 
They include in their flora 52 of the species, 
that is, all but five of the Pingelap plants. 
Plants with Similar Names on the Marshall 
Islands and Pingelap 
5 cultivated food plants 
3 cultivated ornamentals 
2 perhaps cultivated, perhaps indigenous 
3 indigenous 
13 total (out of the 52 species in common) 
Degree of Similarity: Four, or 30 per cent, with 
identical names. These contain 1 cultivated 
food plant, 1 cultivated ornamental, 1 sedge 
cultivated or native, and 1 indigenous tree. 
Nine, or 70 per cent, with altered names. Of 
these, 3 (or 23 per cent) are much modified. 
Truk, situated 600 miles to the west, is a 
group with several volcanic islands in a lagoon 
surrounded by an atoll ring with coral islets. 
Plants with Similar Names on Truk and 
Pingelap 
11 cultivated food plants 
1 cultivated ornamental 
1 tree, medicinal, probably cultivated 
1 shrub, cultivated ornamental or native 
1 timber tree, probably cultivated 
6 indigenous 
1 shrub, native or cultivated, an economic 
fiber plant 
22 total (out of the 46 species in common) 
Degree of Similarity: Four, or 18 per cent, with 
identical names. Three of these are cultivated 
food plants. Eighteen, or 82 per cent, with 
altered names. Of these names, 4 (or 22 per 
cent) are much modified. 
The island of Ponape is fairly close, lying 168 
miles to the northwest by west. 
Plants with Similar Names on Ponape and 
Pingelap 
10 cultivated food plants 
1 timber tree, probably cultivated 
1 tree, fish poison, probably introduced 
1 tree, food plant and ornamental, intro¬ 
duced 
1 tree, food plant and medicinal, probably 
introduced 
11 indigenous 
25 total (out of the 40 species in common) 
Degree of Similarity: Six, or 24 per cent, with 
identical names. These contain 4 cultivated 
food plants, 1 fish poison, 1 indigenous tree. 
Nineteen, or 76 per cent, with altered names. 
Of these, 1 (or 5 per cent) is much modified. 
Comparison of these data indicates that the 
Pingelap plant names have most in common 
with those of Ponape. There are 25 plants in 
common with similar vernacular names; of 
these, 6 are identical, and of the 19 modified 
names, 18 are but slightly modified. There are 
11 indigenous plants in the list, twice the num¬ 
ber for any other island or group. Even these 
identities are small, as 34 of the Pingelap plants 
have different names, yet the resemblances are 
strongest between these two islands. It seems 
evident that the vocabulary of Pingelap, though 
quite distinct, has a small but definite similarity 
to that of Ponape. 
